RESEARCH ARTICLE First quantification of subtidal community structure at Tristan da Cunha Islands in the remote South Atlantic: From kelp forests to the deep sea Jennifer E. Caselle1*, Scott L. Hamilton2, Kathryn Davis1, Christopher D. H. Thompson3, Alan Turchik4, Ryan Jenkinson1, Doug Simpson5, Enric Sala4 a1111111111 1 Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, United States of America, 2 Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, CA, United States of America, 3 Centre for Marine Futures, a1111111111 University of Western Australia M092, Crawley, WA AUS, 4 Pristine Seas, National Geographic Society, a1111111111 Washington, DC, United States of America, 5 School of Journalism, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, a1111111111 United States of America a1111111111 *
[email protected] Abstract OPEN ACCESS Citation: Caselle JE, Hamilton SL, Davis K, Tristan da Cunha Islands, an archipelago of four rocky volcanic islands situated in the South Thompson CDH, Turchik A, Jenkinson R, et al. Atlantic Ocean and part of the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), present a (2018) First quantification of subtidal community rare example of a relatively unimpacted temperate marine ecosystem. We conducted the structure at Tristan da Cunha Islands in the remote first quantitative surveys of nearshore kelp forests, offshore pelagic waters and deep sea South Atlantic: From kelp forests to the deep sea. PLoS ONE 13(3): e0195167. https://doi.org/ habitats. Kelp forests had very low biodiversity and species richness, but high biomass and 10.1371/journal.pone.0195167 abundance of those species present. Spatial variation in assemblage structure for both Editor: Andrea Belgrano, Sveriges nearshore fish and invertebrates/algae was greatest between the three northern islands and lantbruksuniversitet, SWEDEN the southern island of Gough, where sea temperatures were on average 3-4o colder.